Tennessee man accused of chopping up woman and eating her remains

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

Story highlights

Gregory Scott Hale, 37, is arrested on murder, corpse abuse charges

Authorities say he admitted killing a woman, eating some of her remains

Affidavit: Hale cut off his victim's head, hands and feet and buried her torso

Official: No indication the suspect and the slain woman knew each other

It wasn't enough for Gregory Scott Hale to kill his victim, authorities say.

He also chopped off her head, her hands, her feet. Buried her torso in a burn pile outside his south-central Tennessee home. And -- by his own admission -- ate some of her remains, according to the affidavit filed against him.

According to the same document, Hale confessed to the killing of the 36-year-old woman, identified as Lisa Hyder by Capt. Frank Watkins of the Coffee County, Tennessee, Sheriff's Department.

"Lisa was a sweet girl, a very pretty girl," her friend and neighbor Vicki Keenan told CNN affiliate WSMV. "... It's got to be a very sick mind to do something like that."

There's no indication Hale and Hyder knew each other before she was killed, apparently on Friday, said Watkins, who added that authorities don't have any reason yet to believe Hale had done this before.

Authorities learned about the apparently random crime on Sunday and arrested Hale a day later.

The affidavit says after killing her, the 37-year-old man put her slashed-off head and hands in a plastic bucket. Her feet and other cut-off body parts went into another bucket.

It was not known who, if anyone right now, is legally representing the accused. Numerous CNN calls placed Tuesday to his relatives and associates were not immediately returned.

Hale is being held in Tennessee on $1.5 million bond related to charges of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.